Poems enchant at 'Le Chant des Villes'

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 03/19/2006 8:28 AM | Life

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Opening with a small cocktail party where about 200 guests mingled casually, last Friday's poetry reading at Oktroi Plaza in Kemang, South Jakarta, turned into a stunning art performance.

The audience observed the poetry reading solemnly -- sometimes laughing -- and gave a long applause at the end of each poet's performance.

The Le Printemps des Poetes (The Spring of poets) 2006 reading was the fourth event sponsored by Centre Culturel Francais (CCF) Jakarta since 1999.

Le Chant des Villes (Song of Cities) was the theme of this year's poetry reading, during which seven Indonesian women poets were selected to read their own works.

The seven poets read about life and the city with their own inflections, pronunciation and style.

Poets Medy Loekito, Toety Heraty Noerhadi, Isma Sawitri, Poppy Hutagalung and Dorothea Rosa Herliany performed with soft intonation, while Rieke Dyah Pitaloka and Cok Sawitri read in a strong voice -- sometimes shouting.

Le Chant des Villes was chosen as the theme, said the CCF's Herve Guillou, because there were a lot of things to say about a city, especially Jakarta.

""We also received poems about something else because some poets did not write about a city,"" he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the poetry reading.

As for the line-up of poets, Guillou said it would have been a difficult job for him to manage a bigger number of poets.

""Besides, the seven (featured) poets have represented three generations of poets in Indonesia,"" he added.

Medy, a poet and essayist who started writing in 1978, was the first to read out her poems after Guillou's welcome speech.

Clad in a white blouse and black trousers, Medy read Danau Maninjau (Lake Maninjau) and Jakarta V in a low voice.

""... Every night/I lay down the rocky buildings/into open land like paddy field/then I put seeds with passion/that grow into wolves/every morning...,"" she read from Jakarta V.

Rindu Jakarta (Missing Jakarta) from Poppy Hutagalung is an ironic piece, commenting that while many people hate living in the capital because of its pollution and severe traffic jams, people would miss the city whenever they go out of town.

Balada Supriono (The ballad of Supriono), another poem from Poppy, is a snapshot of another life of irony in the capital: With no money to rent a car, Supriono must take his daughter to Bogor for her burial -- his daughter had died because he had no money to buy her medicine.

The poet then changed the mood by offering a comic satire about old couples visiting Pacet, a resort area in East Java, prompting the audience to break out into laughter.

Isma Sawitri, a veteran journalist with weekly magazine Tempo, read Nausea, while actress-turned-activist Rieke presented Adam dan Hawa tak mungkin bersama (Adam and Eve could not be together), and Dorothea read Memo Melankoli (Melancholic memo).

Senior poet Toety, who co-organized the event, presented Jembatan II (Bridge II) and I Love New York, while Cok Sawitri performed Aku Gali Sejuk Air di Bibirmu (I taste fresh water on your lips) and Sehari Setelah Kau Putuskan Cinta (One day after you end love).

All poems were translated into French and provided in an anthology of bilingual poetry also titled Le Chant des Villes.

According to Guillou, the event was aimed at making poems and poetry reading into a popular activity -- and it seemed the seven-year-old program had achieved this, judging from the enthusiastic response of the audience.

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